Comparative study of excitonic structures and luminescence properties of Bi4Ge3O12 and Bi12GeO20

Published in physica status solidi (b), Vol. 245, No. 12, pp2733-2736, 2008.Bi12GeO20 crystals have been performed, in addition to relativistic molecular orbital calculations. Both materials consist of the same elements but form different crystal structures. Based on the obtained results, the excitonic reflection structures and luminescence properties of Bi4Ge3O12 and Bi12GeO20 are discussed in comparison with each other.Bookphysica status solidi (b). 245(12):2733-2736 (2008)journal articl

Curve crossing in linear potential grids: the quasidegeneracy approximation

The quasidegeneracy approximation [V. A. Yurovsky, A. Ben-Reuven, P. S. Julienne, and Y. B. Band, J. Phys. B {\bf 32}, 1845 (1999)] is used here to evaluate transition amplitudes for the problem of curve crossing in linear potential grids involving two sets of parallel potentials. The approximation describes phenomena, such as counterintuitive transitions and saturation (incomplete population transfer), not predictable by the assumption of independent crossings. Also, a new kind of oscillations due to quantum interference (different from the well-known St\"uckelberg oscillations) is disclosed, and its nature discussed. The approximation can find applications in many fields of physics, where multistate curve crossing problems occur.Comment: LaTeX, 8 pages, 8 PostScript figures, uses REVTeX and psfig, submitted to Physical Review

Electrical Conductivity of Fermi Liquids. I. Many-body Effect on the Drude Weight

On the basis of the Fermi liquid theory, we investigate the many-body effect on the Drude weight. In a lattice system, the Drude weight $D$ is modified by electron-electron interaction due to Umklapp processes, while it is not renormalized in a Galilean invariant system. This is explained by showing that the effective mass $m'$ for $D\propto n/m'$ is defined through the current, not velocity, of quasiparticle. It is shown that the inequality $D>0$ is required for the stability against the uniform shift of the Fermi surface. The result of perturbation theory applied for the Hubbard model indicates that $D$ as a function of the density $n$ is qualitatively modified around half filling $n\sim 1$ by Umklapp processes.Comment: 20 pages, 2 figures; J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. Vol.67, No.

Thermodynamics of doped Kondo insulator in one dimension: Finite Temperature DMRG Study

The finite-temperature density-matrix renormalization-group method is applied to the one-dimensional Kondo lattice model near half filling to study its thermodynamics. The spin and charge susceptibilities and entropy are calculated down to T=0.03t. We find two crossover temperatures near half filling. The higher crossover temperature continuously connects to the spin gap at half filling, and the susceptibilities are suppressed around this temperature. At low temperatures, the susceptibilities increase again with decreasing temperature when doping is finite. We confirm that they finally approach to the values obtained in the Tomonaga-Luttinger (TL) liquid ground state for several parameters. The crossover temperature to the TL liquid is a new energy scale determined by gapless excitations of the TL liquid. The transition from the metallic phase to the insulating phase is accompanied by the vanishing of the lower crossover temperature.Comment: 4 pages, 7 Postscript figures, REVTe

IGF-1 Induction by Acylated Steryl β-Glucosides Found in a Pre-Germinated Brown Rice Diet Reduces Oxidative Stress in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetes

BACKGROUND: The pathology of diabetic neuropathy involves oxidative stress on pancreatic β-cells, and is related to decreased levels of Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). Acylated steryl β-glucoside (PR-ASG) found in pre-germiated brown rice is a bioactive substance exhibiting properties that enhance activity of homocysteine-thiolactonase (HTase), reducing oxidative stress in diabetic neuropathy. The biological importance of PR-ASG in pancreatic β-cells remains unknown. Here we examined the effects of PR-ASG on IGF-1 and glucose metabolism in β-cells exposed to oxidative stress. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In the present study, a pre-germinated brown rice (PR)-diet was tested in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Compared with diabetic rats fed control diets, the PR-diet fed rats showed an improvement of serum metabolic and neurophysiological parameters. In addition, IGF-1 levels were found to be increased in the serum, liver, and pancreas of diabetic rats fed the PR-diet. The increased IGF-1 level in the pancreas led us to hypothesize that PR-ASG is protective for islet β-cells against the extensive injury of advanced or severe diabetes. Thus we examined PR-ASG to determine whether it showed anti-apoptotic, pro-proliferative effects on the insulin-secreting β-cells line, INS-1; and additionally, whether PR-ASG stimulated IGF-1 autocrine secretion/IGF-1-dependent glucose metabolism. We have demonstrated for the first time that PR-ASG increases IGF-1 production and secretion from pancreatic β-cells. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: These findings suggest that PR-ASG may affect pancreatic β-cells through the activation of an IGF-1-dependent mechanism in the diabetic condition. Thus, intake of pre-germinated brown rice may have a beneficial effect in the treatment of diabetes, in particular diabetic neuropathy

Perturbation study on the spin and charge susceptibilities of the two-dimensional Hubbard model

We investigate the spin and charge susceptibilities of the two-dimensional Hubbard model based upon the perturbative calculation in the strength of correlation $U$. For $U$ comparable to a bare bandwidth, the charge susceptibility decreases near the half-filling as hole-doping approaches zero. This behavior suggesting the precursor of the Mott-Hubbard gap formation cannot be obtained without the vertex corrections beyond the random phase approximation. In the low-temperature region, the spin susceptibility deviates from the Curie-Weiss-like law and finally turns to decrease with the decrease of temperature. This spin-gap-like behavior is originating from the van Hove singularity in the density of states.Comment: Revtex file + 11 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Nearly universal crossing point of the specific heat curves of Hubbard models

A nearly universal feature of the specific heat curves C(T,U) vs. T for different U of a general class of Hubbard models is observed. That is, the value C_+ of the specific heat curves at their high-temperature crossing point T_+ is almost independent of lattice structure and spatial dimension d, with C_+/k_B \approx 0.34. This surprising feature is explained within second order perturbation theory in U by identifying two small parameters controlling the value of C_+: the integral over the deviation of the density of states N(\epsilon) from a constant value, characterized by \delta N=\int d\epsilon |N(\epsilon)-1/2|, and the inverse dimension, 1/d.Comment: Revtex, 9 pages, 6 figure

Few-electron molecular states and their transitions in a single InAs quantum dot molecule

We study electronic configurations in a single pair of vertically coupled self-assembled InAs quantum dots, holding just a few electrons. By comparing the experimental data of non-linear single-electron transport spectra in a magnetic field with many-body calculations, we identify the spin and orbital configurations to confirm the formation of molecular states by filling both the quantum mechanically coupled symmetric and anti-symmetric states. Filling of the anti-symmetric states is less favored with increasing magnetic field, and this leads to various magnetic field induced transitions in the molecular states.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let